Machine for attaching fabrics to boxes.



PATENTED MAY 2; 1905.

W. KAHLE. MACHINE FOR ATTAGHINGPABRIGS TO BOXES.

APPLIOATIOH FILED SEPT. 23,1904.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

W. KAHLE. MACHINE FOR ATTAGHING FABRICS T0 BOXES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 23, 1904.

3 SHEBTS-SHEBT 2.

@Q 612 wzwd f No. 788,537. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

v w. KAHLE.

MACHINE FOR ATTAOHING FABRICS T0 BOXES.

APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. 23, 1904.

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Patented May 2, 1 905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM KAHLE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR ATTACHING FABRICS TO BOXES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,537, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed September 23, 1904. Serial No. 225,650. I

To all when it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM KAHLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Attaching Fabrics to Boxes, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to an improved machine for covering boxes with fabric, and is particularly adapted to covering jewelers boxes with velvet. Instead of covering the boxes by hand and pasting the fabric upon the box, as is the present custom, I apply the fabric to the box, fold it over the edge of said box, and force it into a recess formed in the box for that purpose, said recess extending around the edge of the box and of the cover of said box, it being understood that the cover and the box are covered separately and that in each case a recess extends around the lower edge of the cover and the upper edge of the box, into which the edges of the fabric which is used to cover the box and its cover is inserted by the machine after said fabric has been placed on the box or cover and folded over the edge of the same inwardly toward the center of said box or cover, as the case may be.

The object of the invention'is to provide a cheap, simple, and easily-operated machine which may be operated by cheap labor and neatly cover a box or its cover with fabric, preferably velvet, without the use of glue or cement.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification, and particularly pointed out in the claims thereof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machine for attaching fabric to boxes, partly broken away to save space in the drawings. Fig. 2 is an enlarged section, partly in elevation, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking toward the left in Fig. 3 is a plan view of the fabric-holder, together with a portion of the machine, broken away to save space in the draw- 7 are vertical sections, partly in elevation, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, illustrating the box covering devices in different positions during the operation of covering the box or cover with fabric. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the bottom of a box adapted to be covered with fabric by the machine of my invention as hereinafter described. Figs. 9 and 10 are sections similar to Figs. 2 and 5, illustrating the action of a modified form of elastic pad.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 10 is the frame of the machine, and 11 a bracket fast to said frame. A cylindrical slide or plunger 12 is guided in ways 13, formed in the bracket11. Afabricholder 14 is fastened to the upper end of the plunger 12 by a set-screw 15, Fig. 2. Said fabric-holder consists of a plate 16, provided with a recess 17 in its upper face and an elastic pad 18, which extends across said recess and is held in position by a gage-rim 19 and .screws 20, which extend through said gage-rim and elastic pad into said plate. A vertical reciprocatory motion is imparted to the plunger 12 by a-lever 21, pivoted at 22 to a bracket 23, fast to the frame 10. Said lever is operatively connected to the plunger 12 by a screw 22', which projects through a slot 23, formed in the outer end of said lever, and is fastened to a collar 24, mounted upon the plunger 12, the lower face of said collar 2 1 bearing against a collar 25, fastened to the plunger 12, and the upper face of said collar bearing against the lower end of a spiral spring 26, which encircles the plunger 12, the upper end thereof bearing against a collar 27, fast to said plunger. A rocking motion is imparted to the lever 21 by any suitable mechanism.

The box-holder 28 is fastened by a screw 29 to the lower end of a vertical reciprocatory plunger 30, the median line of the i)lunger BO'being coincident with the median line of the plunger 12. The plunger 30 is adapted to slide in a sleeve 31, and said sleeve is adapted to slide vertically in the frame 10, being normally held in its uppermost position, with the upper end thereof bearing against the frame 10, by a spring 32, one end of said spring fast to a pin 33, which is fastened to the frame 10, and the lower end of said spring fast to a pin 34, which projects through a slot 47 in the frame 10 and has screwthreaded engagement with the sleeve 31. The upper end of the plunger projects into a recess 35, formed in the frame 10, and has an annular ring 36 formed thereon and adapted to slide vertically in said recess. A spiral spring 37 is located in the recess 35, the lower end of said spring bearing against the top of theplunger 30, the upper end of said spring bearing against a screw 38, having screw-threaded engagement with the frame 10 and by means of which the tension upon the spring may be regulated.

To turn the fabric inwardly during the folding operation, as hereinafter described, a guide 39 is provided consisting of a hollow plate substantially of the shape of the box, having beveled inner edges 40. The plate 39 has fastened thereto two screws 41 41, which extend upwardly therefrom and through holes provided in ears 42 43, formed upon the frame 10. Spiral springs encircle the screws 41 between the ears 42 and 43 and the plate 39, tending to force said plate downwardly toward the fabric-holder 14, the extent of said downward movement being limited by the heads of the screws 41.

The top and bottom of the boxes to which fabric is to be attached by my improved machine, hereinbefore specifically described, are preferably formed in two parts, and in Figs. 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 the bottom of a box is illustrated formed in two parts-viz., a base 44 and a flange 45, the base 44 being provided with a recess 46 in its edges extending entirely thcrearound.

The general operation of the machine hereinbefore specifically described is as follows: The flange 45 is placed upon the bottom of the sleeve 31, as shown in Fig. 2, said sleeve being pushed downwardly by means of the pin 34 to allow said flange to be placed thereon. The base 44 is then placed upon the bottom of the box-holder 28,and the fabric 48,0ut to the proper size,is then placed, as illustrated in Fig. 2, upon the elastic pad 18, inside the gage-rim 19. The lever 21 is then rocked in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1, forcing the plunger 12, together with the fabric-holder 14 and fabric 48, upwardly until the fabric contacts with the lower face of the box-base 44. A further upward motion will cause the fabric to be folded around the base, as shown in Fig. 5, the elastic pad 18 stretching sufliciently to allow the base 44 and the fabric 48 to be forced, together with said elastic pad, into the recess 17, and thus smoothly stretching the fabric over the bottom face of the base 44 upwardly across the outer face of the flange 45. Upon a further upward motion of the plunger 12 the several parts are brought into the position illustrated in Fig. 6, the spring 37 yielding to allow the plunger 30 to move upwardly, the edges of the fabric 48 being guided inwardly toward the center of the box by the beveled edges of the guide 39 and said inward edges projecting over the recess 46 sufficiently so that upon a further upward movement of the plunger the springs 37 yield and the guide 39, together with the box-holder and fabric-holder, all move upwardly until the flange is forced into the recess 46, thus folding the inner edges of the fabric downwardly and forcing them into the recess 46, together with said flange, as illustrated in Fig. 7. Upon releasing the treadle the parts will return to the position illustrated in Fig. 2, thecovered box being pushed off by the guide-plate 39 and dropping upon the fabric-holder, from which it is removed by the operator.

In Figs. 9 and 10 a modified form of my elastic pad is illustrated, and in said figures, 14 is the fabric-holder; 17, the recess in the top of said holder; 18, the elastic pad, and 19 the gage-rim. It will be noted that the elastic pad 18 differs from the elastic pad 18, hereinbefore described, in that it is provided with a flange 49 upon its upper face, the operation of the parts being illustrated in said Figs. 9 and 10, said operation being substantially the same as hereinbefore described in relation to Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, except that the flange 49 upon the elastic pad 18 when the parts are brought into the position illustrated in Fig. 10 pushes the edges of the fabric inwardly and partly across the top of the box-flange, so that the wiping in of said fabric edges by the guide-plate 39 is materially improved and the work performed by smoothing the fabric over the box in readiness to be forced into the recess in the rim of said box is greatly assisted. It is obvious that when the box is forced downwardly against the fabric 48, as hereinbefore described, and the parts brought from the position shown in Fig. 9 to the position shown in Fig. 10 the flange 49 will be bent or curved inwardly toward the center of the box and will push slightly over the upper edge of the rim of said box, thus causing the edges of the fabric to be forced at an angle inwardly toward the center of the box, as illustrated in Fig. 10, so that when the guide-plate 39 first encounters the edges of the fabric said edges will have been already partly carried toward the center of the box.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire by Letters Patent to secure, is

1. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a fabric-holder provided with a recess in-its upper face, mechanism to reciprocate said fabric-holder, a reciprocatory box-holder in alinement with said fabric-holder, a reciprocatory guide having beveled inner edges adapted to engage the edges of said fabric and IIO guide said edges inwardly toward the center of a box held by said box-holder, springs acting to force said box-holder and fabric-guide toward said fabric holder, a reciprocatory folder adapted to engage the edges of said fabric and fold them inwardly over the edges of said box, a spring acting to move said folder away from said fabric-holder, and a stop to limit the extent of movement of said folder.

2. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a fabric-holder provided with a recess in its upper face, a box-holder in alinement with said fabric-holder, mechanism to reciprocate said fabric-holder toward and away from said box-holder, a plunger fast to said boxholder, a sleeve surrounding said plunger, a guide having beveled inner edges adapted to engage the edges of said fabric and guide them inwardly toward the center of said box, a folder fast to said sleeve adapted to engage the edges of said fabric and fold them inwardly over the edges of a box held by said boxholder, and aspring acting to force said boxholder toward said fabric-holder.

3. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a box-holder, a cylindrical reciprocatory plunger fast to said box-holder, a sleeve surrounding said plunger, a folder fast to said sleeve, means to reciprocate said sleeve, said plunger projecting into a recess provided in the frame of said machine, a spring in said recess, one end bearing against said plunger, and an adjusting-screw against which the other end of said spring rests.

4:. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, afabric-holder consisting of aplate provided with a recess in one face thereof, and an elastic pad extending across said recess and having its edges fast to said plate outside and adjacent to said recess.

5. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a fabric-holder consisting of a plate provided with a recess in one face thereof, an elastic pad extending across said recess, and a gage-rim extending around said pad, said pad and rim fast to said plate.

6. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a box-holder adapted to hold a box, said box provided with a recess in its edges extending therearound, mechanism to guide fabric over said recessed edges, and a folder adapted to engage the edges of said fabric and force them into said recess.

7 In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a fabric-holder consisting of a plate provided with a recess in one face thereof and an elastic pad extending across said recess and having its edges fast to said plate outside and adjacent to said recess, said pad having a flange upon its upper face.

8. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a fabric-holder consisting of a plate provided with a recess in one face thereof and a pad formed of elastic sheet material fastto said plate and extending across said recess.

9. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a fabric-holder consisting of a plate provided witha recess in one face thereof and a sheet-rubber pad fast to said plate and extending across said recess.

10. In a machine for attaching fabric to boxes, a fabric-holder consisting of a plate provided with a recess in one face thereof and a pad formed of elastic sheet material extending across said recess, said pad having a flange upon its upper face.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM KAHLE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES S. Goonme, ANNIE J. DAILEY. 

